Van Eyck Completes the Ghent Altarpiece

May 6, 1432

Jan Van Eyck unveiled the twelve-panel oil masterpiece in Saint Bavo's Cathedral: the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, painted with a new medium that held light the way crystal holds water. Northern European painting suddenly rendered velvet, skin, and reflected brass more convincingly than anything ever made. The altarpiece has since been stolen, dismembered, hidden from Napoleon, recovered from a salt mine, and pursued by thieves more than any other painting.